St. Paul daily globe., 1887-09-05

kett. who to-day makes Minneapolis his
home, living in a pleasant residence dis
trlct i'll the southern part of the city.
That magnificent executor on the en-
trancing violin, Edward Remenyi, who
now makes Paris, France, his home, was
in this country some years ago, and
in long communication to the
Ohio State Journal at that time
speaks as follows of HeSkett's work:
''Heskett's new violins are quite equal
and even superior in strength of tone to
and can boast of possessing some of
the very finest specimens. This is such
an extraordinary fact in the art of vio-
lin making that you, as an American
citizen. should be really proud of
HeSkett. l know all the violin makers
on both hemiSphereS, and / dare to state
it emphatically Should / even awaken
jealousy among all other violin makerS)
that Heskett, of Columbus, (now. of
MinneapoliS,) is the best and most per-
feet violin maker since the death of An
tonius Stradiaurius, who died in Gre
mona, Italy, A. d. 1881" This was
great while ago. 1t wanted time to
produce another great master. The very
name of Remenyi placed to a tribute
like this is sufficient to mark out H. III.
Heskett as no ordinary man. In pleas
ant conversation held with the gentle
man few days ago, he related to
GLOBE reporter how his health had
failed him in Columbus, o. where he has
been residing since 1878, and how he
had come here ON the recommendation
OF his physicians. The climate of Min
nesOta he found benefited him consider
ably, and he intended making this city
his permanent home. Among other in
iNo 70 ontS hn fa1 in,
with his art was the important matter
of woods used. After the death of Stra-
divariuS, balSam fir wood became extinct
in Europe, and this may partly account
for the deterioration in viOlinS after the
master death, for he almost exclusively
used this wood. Within the past ten
years Shraddick, director of the con-
servatory of music in Cincinnati, diScov-
cred that the balsam fir was profuSe in
Colorado, Maine, and other mountainous
regions. He had experiments instituted
that were crowned with success as to
applying the wood again to violinS, and
this wood HeSkett uses exclusively in
creating his instruments. The workshop
of the violin maker has not at casual
glance any very distinctive features
from any other wood-cutting trade. The
scroll-saw stood in the middle of
the floor, benches were ranged
against the walls, large collection
of carpenters tools were arranged ON a
racket overhead, and in corner, also
overhead, on shelf side by side were
the bottles containing the precious oils
and varnisheS used in this mysterious
craft. A second glance, however. dis
closed two beautiful and striking look
ing instruments ON the wall, and ON
one of the benches lay an open book of
large size, glance at which showed
the fact it was G. Hart's great work on
the violin, and there in quaint old
fashioned cOlOred letters one could read
the soft beautiful Latin names-Amati,
Stradiyari and Guarneri. This elevated
the room at once above the ordinary
workshop and cast that halo around
where genius lives. The instruments
on the wall were copies of two famous
Strad's-the Dolphine and the Messiah.
The col0ring of this copied Dolphine is
thing of beauty and joy forever.
The shades of brown, yermilliOn and
golden yellow blend and inter-blend in
charming manner and the effect,as the
Sunshine falls over the back
of the instrument, is truly
striking. The chemists and violin
makers in the old world have been
known to take and scrape the yarnish
Off an old and famous example, and then
analyze it to see if they could fathom
the secret of these famous Instruments;
and in this regard lies Heskett'S success,